The Tel Dan Inscription: The First Historical Evidence of
King David from the Bible

Few Biblical archaeology discoveries have attracted as much
attention as the Tel Dan inscription, or “House of David” inscription

The fragmentary Tel Dan stela, containing the Tel Dan
inscription (or “House of David” inscription) provided the first historical
evidence of King David from the Bible. The Aramean king who erected the stela
in the mid-eighth century B.C. claims to have defeated the “king of Israel” and
the “king of the House of David.” Photo: Zev Radovan/www.biblelandpictures.com.

Few modern Biblical archaeology discoveries have caused
as much excitement as the Tel Dan inscription—writing on a ninth-century B.C.
stone slab (or stela) that furnished the first historical evidence of King
David from the Bible.

The Tel Dan inscription, or “House
of David” inscription, was discovered in 1993 at the site of Tel Dan in
northern Israel in an excavation directed by Israeli archaeologist Avraham
Biran.

The broken and fragmentary
inscription commemorates the victory of an Aramean king over his two southern
neighbors: the “king of Israel” and the “king of the House of David.” In the
carefully incised text written in neat Aramaic characters, the Aramean king
boasts that he, under the divine guidance of the god Hadad, vanquished several
thousand Israelite and Judahite horsemen and charioteers before personally
dispatching both of his royal opponents. Unfortunately, the recovered fragments
of the “House of David” inscription do not preserve the names of the specific
kings involved in this brutal encounter, but most scholars believe the stela
recounts a campaign of Hazael of Damascus in which he defeated both Jehoram of
Israel and Ahaziah of Judah.

What made the Tel Dan inscription
one of the most exciting Biblical archaeology discoveries for scholars and the
broader public was its unprecedented reference to the “House of David.” The
stela’s fragmented inscription, first read and translated by the renowned
epigrapher Joseph Naveh, proved that King David from the Bible was a genuine
historical figure and not simply the fantastic literary creation of later
Biblical writers and editors. Perhaps more important, the stela, set up by one
of ancient Israel’s fiercest enemies more than a century after David’s death,
still recognized David as the founder of the kingdom of Judah.

The “House of David” inscription had its skeptics, however, especially the
so-called Biblical minimalists, who attempted to dismiss the “House of David”
reading as implausible and even sensationalistic. In a famous BAR
article, Philip Davies argued that the Hebrew term bytdwd referred
to a specific place (akin to bytlhm for Bethlehem) rather than
the ancestral dynasty of David. Such skepticism aside, however, most Biblical
scholars and archaeologists readily accepted that the Tel Dan stela had
supplied the first concrete proof of a historical King David from the Bible,
making it one of the top Biblical archaeology discoveries reported in BAR.

Even though the “House of David”
inscription has confirmed the essential historicity of King David from the
Bible, scholars have reached little consensus about the nature and extent of
his rule. Was David the great king of Biblical lore who founded his royal
capital at Jerusalem and established an Israelite kingdom? Or was David a ruler
of only a tribal chiefdom, as Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University
contends? Questions like these often arise from Biblical archaeology
discoveries and lie at the heart of the complex relationships among
archaeology, history and the Bible.

Lutheran

Presbyterian

About Me

Retired. Reformed and Presbyterian by background, but dedicated to the Anglican Prayerbook with degrees from Presbyterian and Episcopal seminaries. Informed by both traditions. Not giving up the 1662 BCP for the Presbyterians and not giving up the Westminster Standards for the Anglicans.